Fabric construction



Nov. 26, 1940, R HALL 2,222,946

FABRIC CONSTRUCTION Filed March 2Q, 1959 INVENTOR. RENEE YHALL ATTORNEYSPatented Nov. 26, 1940 UNlTED STATES TENT orries Application March 20,

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to a skirt construction and particularlyrelates to a method and mechanism for making a skirt construction.

Although not restricted thereto, the present invention will beparticularly described in its application to a knitted skirtconstruction.

In making the usual knitted skirt construction, a rectangular piece offabric is knitted either by hand or on a. power machine, the area ofsuch piece being roughly half of the total width of the skirt at thebottom and having the approximate length of the finished skirt.

The knitting is done in such a way that the courses or rows of loopswill extend horizontally around the skirt.

When this rectangular piece of fabric is to be made into a skirt, it isnecessary to cut away portions thereof in the form of gores so that oneend of the rectangular piece will have less width than the other and twoof these fashioned pieces are then sewed together at their sides to formthe complete skirt.

A particular dimculty with skirts made in this manner is the fact thatthey do not shape themselves to the wearer and they often drapethemselves in an undesirable fashion.

Moreover it is practically impossible to obtain swing, flared, orpleated-like skirts with wide bottom construction, when utilizing suchknitted fabric construction.

For example, many types of swing, flared or,

pleated skirts may have a circumference of as much as eighty inches atthe bottom, and if this eighty inch circumference was made from twoforty inch pieces, the wide gores which would have to be cut at the sidewould give the resultant joined pieces an undesirable fit, particularlywith the bottom of the skirt forming a selvage edge.

Moreover, the cutting of these rectangular pieces to form swing, flaredor pleated skirts is quite a difificult one and it is necessary to usespecial patterns called slopers to produce each different size.

Even with tubular knit skirts, it is not readily possible to shape theseto the wearer by fashioning or gathering them at both sides and thesetubular skirts cannot readily be shaped to give the desirable swing,flared or pleated styles, and particularly cannot be made with ribbedco-nstructions.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an improvedknitted skirt and method and apparatus of making the same in which itwill be possible to knit the skirt or to 1939, Serial No. 262,933

knit one side of the skirt to have the desired shape and conformationwithout the need of cutting out gores, or using special sloper patternsto produce properly styled swing, flared or pleated skirts or otherskirts having a large bottom circumference even though the knittedfabric be ribbed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensiveprocess for making skirts of knitted construction which will produce 'astyled skirt much superior to that normally produced by knittingrectangular pieces or tubular material and then shaping the resultantpieces of tubular material to form the final skirt construction.

Still further objects and advantages will ap-' pear from the moredetailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, thatthis more detailed description is given by way of illustration sincevarious changes therein may-be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention.

In accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most suitable toknit the rowsof stitches so that they will extend longitudinally orvertically of the skirt and to knit the skirt in such a way that therewill be a series of courses some of which will extend the full length ofthe skirt while others will extend only part way, the courses being sostaggered and joined together that there is substantially no break orrupture at the end of the short courses which terminate withoutextending the full length of the skirt.

In accomplishing this, it is desirable to use a flat bed knittingmachine and so modify the construction thereof that the knitting needlesand the carrier for operating the same will suecess'ively operate toproduce a course extending the full length of the skirt and then operateto produce a course extending less than the full length of the skirt,these latter courses being preferably alternated with the full lengthcourses and preferably being of such different lengths that a finalskirt element will be produced which will be of much greater width atthe bottom than at the top.

This skirt element will be of such shape and construction that it may besewn together with a single or double seam to form a complete skirt andto give the desired swing, flared, ribbed or pleated style.

Alternate short and long courses may be arranged to form part of theribbed or pleated eifect and the invention is capable of being appliedto a very wide variety of designs.

Referring to the drawing which illustrates several of the variouspossible embodiments of the present invention, but to which the presentinvention is by no means restricted since the drawing is merely by wayof illustration and not by way of limitation.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a knitting machine whichmay be utilized for producing a knitted skirt construction of thepresent application.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view showing a section of the fabric as it isknitted and comes off the machine.

Figure 3 illustrates how the complete fabric section is removed from theneedle bed ready to be made into a skirt.

Figure 4 shows how the section of Figure 3 may be formed into a skirt.

Figure 5 diagrammatically shows another shaped form of knitted fabricwhich may be knitted and then employed to form the skirt.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view upon enlarged scale as compared to theother figures showing the details of the knitted courses and how thesecourses may be connected.

In Figure 1 is shown diagrammatically in perspective a typical knittingmachine which may be modified in operation and attachment to formv thefabric of the present invention. For example, a machine such as shown inFigure 1 may be an automatic double system purl stitch machine, powerdriven, and provided with a jacquard control.

Among the many types of machines which may ,be used are the Dubied typeCAL G. C. E. 3101,

or type CAP G. C. E. 3080.

It has generally been found most satisfactory to use machines having agauge in needles per inch from five to twelve capable of knitting awidth of from 59 to '75 inches. The machine may most desirably have twoneedle beds disposed horizontally. There may be provided double systemcam boxes for the jacks operating the needles which in the same row mayknit either plain stitches or reverse plain stitches or purl stitches inboth directions or tucked stitches.

Among the other machines which may be utilized are those shown forexample in United States patents, Nos. 1,561,237; 1,601,545; 2,025,499;1,877,262; 2,059,682; 2,054,036 and 2,021,624. These machines are allset so that the carrier will knit alternating series of full and varyinglength short. courses.

Referring to Figure l, the frame Ii! of the machine is provided with aneedle bed H and is provided with runways I3 for the carriage or carrierl2 which reciprocates backwardly and forwardly, as indicated by thedouble ended arrow 14.

The frame l also carries the bobbin stands I and IS, the jacquardmechanism H, the motor IS, the stop devices IS, the control 20, and thetake-up roller 2!. The fabric as it comes off the bed is indicated at22.

As is best shown in Figure 2, the courses 23 may extend the full Widthof the fabric being knitted while short courses 2% may extend varyingdistances and be alternated with two or more full courses 23.

Depending upon the width the skirt is to have at the bottom, whether 60,70 or 80 inches and the size of the waistline for example, which may be28 inches, the number of full courses 23 and short courses 24 may bevaried.

The selvage edge 25 will be positioned at the bottom of the skirtstructure as shown in Figure 2.

It will be noted that all the courses both 23 and 24 extendlongitudinally or lengthwise of the skirt and vertically when the skirtis used.

As a result of the interposition of the short courses 24, the piece willcome off the knitting machine of greater length at the left than it willat the right in the embodiment as shown.

The alternation of short and long courses will give a shaping of theskirt and these courses may be so controlled that with an eighty inch'bottom, for example, the skirt may be designed to be only sixty inches,ten inches up; fifty inches, fourteen inches up; forty-five inches,eighteen inches up; forty inches, twenty-two inches up; and thirtyinches, twenty-eight inches up.

The complete skirt section, as shown in Figure 3, is provided with aselvage 25 and with the edges 26 and 21 at the needle bed and with thewaist edge portion 28 and it may be set into the skirt, as shown inFigure 4, by asingle seam 29 formed by sewing the edges 26 and 21together. In the skirt, the selvage edge 25 will be at the bottom.

The arrangement, as shown in Figure 2, with the short courses gettingincreasingly long, may be repeated indefinitely or if desired, otherarrangements of short courses may be employed, with a long short courseand a short short course being alternated throughout the body of thefabric.

The ribbed or pleated efiect may be readily obtained by alternating somany plain courses with so many purl courses and there may be a widevariation of the shape or design of these ribs or pleats.

In Figure 5 is shown how the piece may be shaped to fit over the hips.

Referring to Figure 6, it will be noted that the long coursediagrammatically shown at 23a is enclosed in two short courses indicatedat 23a and many variations may be had in the form, arrangement and shapeof these courses and in the loops or design of fabric which isspecifically utilized to give the courses.

The resultant skirt which may be obtained does not need to be fashionedby cutting gores and any ribs which are obtained will extend from thetop to the bottom of the garment throughout the periphery thereofregardless of the seam.

Since all of the gores will extend vertically the skirt will drape muchbetter and by regulating the amount of gores, it will be most readilypossible to make a skirt of any desired shape, and to give a swing,flared or pleated style.

It is also possible to eliminate special patterns for cutting the skirtand the skirt will be much superior than that which may be obtained fromrectangular knitted pieces or from a circularly knitted fabric.

By the expression short courses used in the accompanying claim, is meantthat the courses do not extend the full width of the fabric beingknitted or the full length of the skirt, but extend only a part of thelength of the skirt and then return.

In the drawing, the courses are indicated diagrammatically but it is tobe understood that the courses occur in multiples of two.

It is apparent that the specific illustrations shown above have beengiven by way of illustration and not by way of limitation and that thestructures above described are subject to wide variation andmodification without departing short courses not extending the fulllength, but extending from the bottom of the skirt and terminatingsubstantially short of the top'of the skirt, said short coursesprogressively decreasing and increasing in length and alternating withthe lon courses.

RENEE Y. HALL.

